My wonderful roommate (Renee’) and I like to host themed potlucks once a month after the 6 p.m. service at our church, The Village Chapel. We tend to have between 30 and 45 people in attendance and to say our small Villa is packed would be an understatement. We love it though and it works out well–she cooks, I clean and we are both relatively good at hosting a large quantity of quality people. Our last one of the year was planned for last night–with the theme of international food because of my up-coming international adventure. Or so I thought.
Without me knowing, Renee’ and two other great friends of mine (Jeanie and Erin) planned a faux scavenger hunt to distract me from the actual plans of having around 40 or so of my friends gather at the house of two other friends (Jenni and Melanie.) Now, I must admit, I am a tad competitive and scavenger hunts are one of my favorite group games, so when Erin approached me after church to say she wanted me to be a part of her team, I was both delighted and honored. Erin is a competitive person, as well, and I didn’t even think that she’d want me as a teammate. So we were soon off, folloiwng the hints which led us to a medley of restaurants. We eventually ended up at Cracker Barrel, where I was then jumped on by Erin, blindfolded, turned around a few times (I get dizzy easily, so that was fun!), lied to, shoved into a car, and then driven in silence to Jenni and Melanie’s house. I had no idea what was happening and when I was finally into the house and the scarf was removed from my eyes, I was beyond to see around 40 of my friends gathered to wish me off well on this next year’s journey.
I am beyond grateful for all of my friends and all of the effort that it took to plan such a fun night, which included a variety of international food and enjoyable conversations. I had a blast and felt loved and valued. It was wonderful to see friends from different circles come together and enjoy each other’s company. I have been blessed with a wide variety of people in my life in all stages of life and to see them all in one room was a foreign sight, but a welcomed one. I thank God for each of them and I have been encouraged by all of them in countless ways throughout the nearly 3 years that I have lived in Nashville. God has been faithfull in blessing me with countless friends in my life and as my good friend Tyler once said about me, “if friends were money, Hannah is a millionaire.” In the hiarchy of what I value, I value God and people above all else and I really am wealthy to have such good people in my life. I almost don’t want to leave in a few weeks because of them, but I know that God wants me to be a part of The World Race and I desire to be faithful to Him and His will for my life. I also need to be faithful to fundraising, which has been a constant battle with me. Please pray for me as I continue to raise support–it has been more challenging than I ever thought possible. Thank you!
